Somaliland: UK Labour Party Promises Recognition to its Former Protectorate” Statement

“Just like Sheffield, this is a victory for every Somalilander, but this is an example that shows how small campaign, by small number of people, can make a positive difference to our search for nationhood”.

Somalilandsun – As a member of the Labour party, I would like to share all Somalilanders that the Labour Party administration in Tower Hamlets is ready to follow suit of the positive Sheffield city council example and recognize Somaliland. This is a result numerous meetings between Somalialnder members of Labour Party in Tower Hamlets who lobbied for the recognition of Somaliland, and the Labour party’s mayoral candidate John Biggs who finally confirmed that any future Labour administration led by him, will take a leading role in recognizing Somaliland. Tower Hamlets Labour has the biggest share of elected councilors from the last local elections and they also have the two elected member of UK parliaments, moreover their mayoral candidate is expected to win the mayoral election set to take place by end of May 2014. Labour party is therefore best placed to deliver this pledge on Somaliland recognition.

The issue of Somaliland recognition by the Labour Party in Tower hamlets is almost a reality after we repeatedly reminded local Labour politicians that recognition is the will and the aspiration to, not only somalilanders who live in Somaliland, but to the large Somaliland community that live in Tower Hamlets as well… a shining example of this is the recent press conference held in Tower Hamlets by the Labour’s mayoral candidate John Biggs, and on behalf of all the local Labour Party as well, to launch Labour party’s political manifesto for the next 4 years. This press release was attended by most of the local media, including 3 TV stations and I had the opportunity to directly ask John Biggs whether he was prepared to follow the good example of Sheffield City Council; John Biggs, clearly and without any hesitation, confirmed that he is a believer of Somaliland recognition and that he will lead the Somaliland is cause, if elected for mayor office for next 4 years.

Again, last night (17.04), John Biggs repeated his uncompromising position about how he believes Somaliland to be recognised. John Biggs remarks resulted in standing ovation and members of Somaliland audience present in this meeting were delightful and all vowed to support John Biggs on the election date.

You can watch the full meeting in which John Biggs announced his decision to be an instrumental figure in Somaliland recognition from most of Somaliland websites as well as SomSat TV.

As the driving force behind these positive actions, we would like to confirm that we are not members of any of the Somaliland political party and, once our principal goal of full Tower Hamlets council recognition is achieved, Just like Sheffield, this will be a victory for every Somalilander, nonetheless, our lobbying is an example that shows how a small lobbyist campaign by small number of people, can make a positive difference to our search for nationhood; If you are member of the Somaliland diaspora, why not replicate this campaign? We urge Somaliland government and the two national opposition parties to come and work together, in particular, we call the Somaliland government to come up with a framework to find a lasting socio-economic and tangible developmental solution for Somaliland, fore-front of this plan must be “how-to-find” International recognition without any more delay. We finally urge Somaliland government to revisit and reconsider how effective its foreign policies, not least recognition-seeking ones and put its meager resources to use more effectively.

Would you like to get involved in this campaign, please come to our next meeting to be held on Saturday 03.05.2014 in Trussler Hall, 78 Grundy St, Poplar, London E14 6DR from 10:am to 13:00pm. Or you might want to contact Tower Hamlets Labour Group to encourage them to recognize Somaliland without any delay. Then this is the email you need: chair@towerhamletslabour.org.uk

VIVA to all Somalilanders, VIVA particularly to Sheffield Somalilanders, who are the crowned champions of “Somaliland recognition” project.